Checked my oil this morning and was marginally concerned to see that the oil was at the min mark even though I've only done 1100 miles so far. Anyway, decided to go do the rounds of a few places to get some oil after checking out the manual and seeing that I need VW 505 01 spec oil. However, I had no luck at all. Is this spec a new one? I found plenty that complied to VW 505 00 but didn't know whether that would be any good. Tried Shell, Total, Halfords, two 'car parts' places. No luck. In the end went to my local(ish) VW dealer to find that the parts department had shut 10 mins previously and even though the oil I wanted was sat there on the shelf in front of me, couldn't buy it because the salesman couldn't get access to the till or some bo**ocks. Grrr..

Rant over.

Dunkx,

What a frustrating day.

The first step would be to look on the ground or under the car for a leak. No leaks then the following may help.

Oil consumption depends on a host of factors, type of oil, grade of the oil, brand of oil, outdoor temperature, type of driving (high revs = more), engine design, etc.. And some motors burn more than others...no telling why. Anyway, is probably too early to judge if its got a problem at this point absent a leak.

Also, its not unusual for an engine to use oil when breaking in. I'll assume you only have 1100 on your car. If it continues to use oil after maybe 10,000 miles you might have a problem. My experience with Japanese and VW gas engines is that they need about 8 -10,000 to fully break in. Until then, they may use a bit more oil and seem to be a bit "tight" when reving.

Even my well broken in New Beetle with the 1.8 turbo uses some oil. My guess is around 1 quart (about 1 liter) per 5,000 miles. That's in mixed suburban driving with 25 mile trips using a VW spec (5W-40) synthetic oil.

In a pinch you can use a non VW spec oil (the 1.8 T can use 5W-30 "if you can't find the 5W-40" according to the book. Better to use non VW oil than have no oil!!

You can also check the internet and type in the VW spec "505.01," or try the oil company websites. I'm thinking that you are looking for a 5W-40, ACEA A2/A3 oil. In the US, Mobil, Castrol, Valvoline, Chevron, Texaco, and now others are making the right oil for your car. I'm sure you have something similar in the homeland. The oil cans may also help as they usually state that the oil meets the VW 505.xx performance standard. Or, look 5W-40, then ACEA A2/A3 rating as it may not say the VW qualification. My turbo uses the ACEA A2/A3 in a 5W-40 weight. Mobil now has a 0W-40 that also meets the standard.

Hope this helps.

Regards!

Castrol SLX Longlife 2 is the popular choice on here. Halfords stock it normally, if not, go to any Skoda / VW / Audi / Seat dealer and they should have it

Thanks for the suggestions guys, hopefully tomorrow will be more productive on the oil front...

Hi DUNKX i thought that vw 505.01 was specific to P D engines only, anyway you can get millers pd for

I wouldnt worry to much about the oil consumption, when mine was new it used a litre or so of oil in the 1st couple of thousand miles, and since then hardly uses any. Just part of the bedding in process I rekon.

The VW PD range of engines are well known to like a drop of the black stuff at first. Mine used a litre very quickly, but has now begun to slow down. I've heard that once they reach 10k, they hardly use a drop! Here's hoping.

Anyway, just buy a litre of oil and keep it in the car and check as often as possible for the first 5k, then it begins to settle down. Mine has now done about 6.5k and is slowing down on it's oil consumption.

Castrol SLX Longlife 2 is the popular choice on here. Halfords stock it normally, if not, go to any Skoda / VW / Audi / Seat dealer and they should have it

If you buy it from a VW dealer, for an extra 85p (for the 1L size) you get a nice case to keep it in. It has velcro backing so that you can stick it to the side of your boot to stop it rolling around

Steve

Yup I got one of them

The PD oil bottle just about fits in it.

Yes the Oil is PD specific and mine used about a litre in the first 1,000 miles, havent needed to top again since though.

VAG permissable limits is 1 litre every 1000 km's (about 600 miles).

Which is shocking tbh, but most consumption problems sort themselves out once bedded in.

Castrol SLX Longlife 2 is the popular choice on here. Halfords stock it normally, if not, go to any Skoda / VW / Audi / Seat dealer and they should have it

Just for the record Castrol SLX Longlife 2 is 506.01 spec. This is used when the car is set up for extended service intervals; i.e. the car 'tells' you when you need a service. I don't know whether Skoda offer this facility. VW pdi's can be set up in this way but most private owners opt for 10,000 miles or 1 year oil changes (whichever comes first). In this case use 505.01 spec as 506.01 would be overkill (although you can use it, of course). Even so, there is a lot of debate as to whether 10k oil changes are frequent enough. However, all VAG pdi's come filled with 506.01 from the factory. This oil is synthetic and 'thinner' than 505.01 and this can explain the very high oil consumption that some engines have. The consumption often improves when an oil change is done with 505.01.

Under no circumstances should oil which is not to 505.01 or 506.01 be used in pdi engines. These oils have special additives apparently to cope with the mechanical injectors fitted to pdi engines.

IMHO, as someone else has said, Millers oils offer the best deal at about

But Millers dont do a Longlife oil, so you cant use it in a pd Diesel running variable service, like my Superb is.

Kentish:

Yes, of course you are correct. I didn't know that Skoda offered variable (i.e.extended) service intervals. You could change to fixed service intervals and use 505.01 but presumably your car is still under warranty so has to be serviced by a Skoda dealer. It's something you could consider when the car is out of warranty.

I could do, but then even if I swapped it over to annual service mode I would still put the long life oil in. I prefer to put the best I can in rather than the cheaper option. It is a shame though that Millers havent developed an oil to the Long Life standard.

Dunkx,

I have done now nearly 1400 miles in my Furby vRS and it is also using some oil, approx 0.5 litre so far. What also concerns me is that when I start the car after it has been sat idle for a while, say over night, there is a fair volume of smoke from the exhaust upon starting, the smoke has a bluish colour to it which suggests oil in the bores or mybe weeping turbo seals.

My old TDI used virtually no oil even from new.

On the question of oil, besides the Millers oils semi-synthetic oil to the vw pd spec. there is Silkolene titan supersyn SLPD which I believe is fully synthetic and meets the vw spec.

Cheers

Brakes 7

My Octy has done this "smoke burst" on firing up from new. Initially (within the first 10,000 miles) it used about a litre of oil, but subsequently has settled down and hardly uses any. I check the oil level regularly, and despite the puffs of blue smoke at start up, it hasn't moved since my service at 31k (now 37k).

All five pdi engines that we've had in our family produced blue smoke on start up after standing over night, especially in cold weather. If you look inside the pipes connecting the turbo to the intercooler you will see quite a lot of oil deposits. There's usually so much oil present on my Passat that it drips out of one of the joints in the large bore pipework. Someone told me that it's oil mist escaping around the turbo seals and if it wasn't there you should get worried! It's probably this oil accumulation that causes the blue smoke on startup. I don't think its anything to worry about.

Mine too has used a bit of oil up to the current 1600miles (around 250ml of the stuff)

My last car used around the same over the running in period too.

I sometimes notice a small puff of smoke on first start up, but i think thats because the vRS exhaust points horizontally rather than down on the TDi. However I have also seen this on lots of petrol powered cars on cold startup too and its quite normal.

Oil deposits in the intercooler and turbo inlet pipes could also be caused by the crankcase ventilation system. :scratchch

I've been quite a naughty boy actually - having even neglected to see if an oil top up was required. And that's having now done 5500 miles! :ashamed: I finally decided to timidly lift the bonnet and check the stick! It was below the hashed out bit, but not right down, so stuck about half a litre in and it's now bang in the middle of the hashy bit. Relieved, I suppose, but still feel guilty of neglect! :thumbdwn: